The Bank of Korea(BOK) left the benchmark interest rate steady at one-point-five percent at its first monetary policy meeting of the year on Thursday.
 
The key rate has remained constant for the seventh month in a row, after the central bank lowered it by a total of one percentage point in four quarter-percentage-point cuts between August 2014 and June 2015.
 
The BOK appears to be taking a wait-and-see approach amid higher external uncertainties stemming from a slowdown in the Chinese economy and a plunge in oil prices.
 
The BOK is stuck between lower exports and stagnant domestic demand on the one hand and record-high household debt on the other, which makes it difficult to move in either direction.
 
Meanwhile, foreign investors have been net selling domestic stocks recently, undermining the central bank's ability to hike interest rates to prevent foreign fund outflows.